The 2018 Letters About Literature (LAL) contest has launched. LAL is a nationwide competition which encourages young readers in grades 4-12 to read a book and write a letter to the author about how the book changed their view of the world or themselves. Students write about works of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. The deadline for this year’s contest is January 12, 2018.

Tens of thousands of students from across the country enter Letters About Literature each year. Washington has historically had one of the highest participation rates in the United States. The letters our students write are thoughtful and powerful. Help spread the word about this contest which gets our young students not only reading, but thinking about literature. The contest is sponsored by the Washington Center for the Book, a partnership of the Seattle Public Library and the Washington State Library. For more information, visit sos.wa.gov/q/LAL2018.

The Library of Congress is holding a special webinar for educators to learn more about the Letters About Literature contest. This webinar will explore 25 years of best practices of the program. Details:

There are a few spots left in the all-day Think, Do, Show: Practical Techniques for Using Evaluation to Improve Practice and Demonstrate Impact workshops scheduled for November dates at Timberland, Whitman County, and King County libraries and sponsored by the Washington State Library. Registration and more details are available at sos.wa.gov/q/ThinkDoShow.

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3) ORDERING FREE BOOKS FROM WSL

The Washington State Library has made a change in how to request books from the Community Book Project. We have created a “bookshop” where everything is free, and you can order as many copies of a book as you want, up to the available quantity. When all the available copies have been ordered, the book will drop off the page. This will eliminate the back and forth emails that currently happen, as well as the time it can take to get the books mailed out to you. Once you place an order, you will receive a confirmation email.

Our hope for this change is that it will make this process easier for both you and our staff. Please use this link blogs.sos.wa.gov/book-sharing to go out and “shop.” For more information on the Community Book Project please read the “About” page. The project redistributes donated books which were left over from community reads to libraries in Washington State for use as community read titles elsewhere, as classroom sets, or book club kits.

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4) ALA POLICY CORPS

ALA President Jim Neal announced the start of an ALA Policy Corps of advocates to work on national (and state/local) policy:

ALA is launching a new Policy Corps to expand our ability to advocate on key policy issues on behalf of the library community. Participants in the Corps will focus on issues for which deep and sustained knowledge are necessary to advance ALA policy goals and library values among policymakers. Training and opportunities to participate in targeted policy advocacy work will be provided to participants. State library staff and local librarians are asked to consider the opportunity.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is now accepting applications for two museum grant programs: the African American History and Culture and the Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services. The application deadline for both programs is December 1, 2017.

Potential grant applicants are invited to view two pre-recorded webinars, which can help provide information on how to choose the appropriate funding opportunity and navigate the required IMLS forms. IMLS also invites potential applicants to view a live webinar offered for each grant program. Details are available on the IMLS website. For more information about these grants, visit sos.wa.gov/q/IMLS-grants.

DISCLAIMER: The State Library regularly highlights third-party events and online resources as a way to alert the library community to training and resource opportunities. By doing so, we are not endorsing the content of the event, nor promoting any specific product, but merely providing this information as an FYI to librarians who must then decide what is right for them.